Keeping cool

Problem Scenario:

last summer I visited an old fashion ice house where they used wood shavings as an insulation for the ice blocks. But is that really the best way? I decided to test some different substances as insulations.

broad question:

What is the best way to keep ice frozen?

Specific Question

What substance - snow, dirt, or wood shavings - will keep ice insulated and prevent it from melting?

Hypothesis

I believe that the dirt will work best because it is the most airtight of the insulation.
I believe that the wood shavings will be the second best because it provides insulation. But since it is thin , I believe it will give the ice less protection.
I believe that the snow will work the worst because it will melt before the ice, leaving the ice unprotected.

Graph of Hypothesis

Variables

Independent Variable: temperature

Dependent Variable: time

Variables That Need To Be Controlled:

• amount of insulating substance.
• amount of ice per each insulating substance.
• time given for each run.

Vocabulary List That Needs Explanation

1. insulated: Protect (something) by interposing material that prevents the loss of temperature. (Memidex free online dictionary/thesaurus)

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General Plan

• Beginning: My plan is to take the temperature of a colored ice cube while they are packed with snow, sand, or wood shavings to see the difference in temperature incline. First I will put food-colored water - they are colored so I can see them through the insulation - and thermometers in the freezer. Then I will place the ice, thermometer, and insulating substance in a plastic cup.

• Middle: As the ice melts I will write down observations of each every hour and take pictures as needed. In my observations I will put in the time, temperature, and an observation on how the insulated ice has changed.

• End: Once my experiment is finished I will clean up and save my graph recorded by my Lab-quest thermometer.

Potential Problems And Solutions

• Problem #1: If the insulated ice cubes are in different temperature areas or done at different times the data will be inaccurate.

Solution: if I do all four ice cubes at the same time and use the Lab-quest thermometer, the thermometer will record the temperatures through out the experiment.

• Problem #2: for one of my ice cubes I am using snow to insulate it. I need to put food coloring in it so I can see whether the snow is melting or if the ice cube is. The problem with that is now one ice cubes is different from the rest of them. This could effect my data.

Solution: I will put the same amount of food coloring in all four ice cubes when I freeze them.

Safety Or Environmental Concerns

there are no safety or environmental concerns in my experiment.

Experimental Design

(add the correct headings from the experimental design page before beginning)

What is your experimental unit?

ice cubes

Number Of Trials:

2 times

Number Of Subjects In Each trial:

4 subjects (ice with dirt, ice with wood shavings, ice with snow, and ice alone)

Number of Observations:

every 60 minutes I will make an observation on the ice.

When data will be collected

3/17

Where will data be collected?:

At my house

Resources and Budget Table

Item	Number needed	Where I will get this	Cost
sand	.6 oz	Wal*Mart	$
wood shavings	.6 oz	already have	-
ice tray	1 tray	already have	-
snow	.6 oz	already have	-
water (for ice)	1/4 cup per container	already have	-
lab-quest thermometer	4	KMS	-
food coloring	1 teaspoon	already have	-
plastic cups	32 (just in case there are mess-ups)	Wal*Mart	$
poster	1	KMS	$5
camera	1	already have	-

Detailed Procedure

1. mix food coloring with water
2. fill molds for ice cubes with the water/food coloring mixture
3. place thermometers in water
4. freeze until completely solid
5. While ice is freezing, weigh dirt, wood shavings, and snow
6. insulate three of the ice cubes using snow, sand, or wood shavings (leave one to test not insulated)
7. plug in thermometer and set up Lab-quest thermometer for 4 hours
8. begin experiment
9. every 60 minutes record each ice cube's temperature, appearance, and how long it's been melting
10. clean up to start another run

Diagram

change!!!!!!!!!!!

Photo List

• the ice cubes and Lab-quest.
• sand
• snow
• wood shavings
• beginning of experiment
• middle of the experiment (x3 for each set)

Time Line

procedure, timeline, and photo list complete ------ day of experiment ------ analysis due ------ wiki complete ------ posters complete ------ KMS fair ------ MWV fair

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-----------------------2/1---------------------------------------------------2/18-------------------------3/7----------------------3/15---------------------------3/22-------------------3/29-----------------5/9----

Data Table

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Data Analysis

All Raw Data

Graphs

Photos

Results

I did two runs for this experiment and I got different results in each run. Dirt always did the worst out of the three, but snow and wood shavings switched places in each run. When I looked at the final temperatures I noticed that in they were only about 5 degrees off each other maximum in both trials. The two insulation worked in different ways. The wood shavings would soak up the water coming off the ice, where as the snow would keep the ice cold even after it melted because the snows cold water would keep the ice cold even after it melted.

Conclusion

I must reject my hypothesis. I hypothesized that the dirt would do best, then wood shavings, then snow. What happened was almost the opposite. Dirt did the worst and then snow and wood-shavings switched places. Overall, the woodshavings were the most reliable.

Discussion

I think if you were to have an ice house, I would recommend using the wood shavings In both experiments the wood shaving did the same thing, and the snow did not. I noticed that the snow melted at different times in both runs. This probably had to do with the temperature in room at the different times. The wood shavings, on the other hand, absorbed the water coming off the ice in both and that kept the ice cold.
This experiment was a lot harder than I expected! I tried doing to 1/2 hour trials to test the difference between each ice cube and barely anything happened in that time frame. I extended the time up to 4 hours and checked it every 4 hours. Another problem I ran into was the Lab quest thermometer kept freezing, but in the end it worked fine.
This experiment could definitely be improved. If I were able to have the two trials at the same time my raw data would be more accurate.

Benefit to Community and/or Science

I know that ice houses aren't used much any more, but the experiment I have done could benefit them. The one I went to last summer was kind of like a museum that they still used. Every year they would take blocks of ice from the lake and store them there over the summer. Pretty neat!

Background Research

References

Abstract

In my experiment I tested different methods for insulating ice. I put ice in 4 cups and poured .6 oz. of different substances on them. Then I put them in the open and measured how their temperature increased using a Lab quest thermometer. I did two trials and in the results varied in each. I believe the wood shavings did the best, because both times the wood shavings did the same thing. The snow did better in one, but in the other it did worse.